Improved plate or salver



5am gear time. p

H. MCMANUS AND JOHN B. HATTING, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

Letters Patent No. 84,894, dated December 15 1868.

IMPROVED PLATE on SALVER.

To. all whom it may concern:

Be it known that We, H. MOMANUS and J on): B. HATTIL'G, of New Yorkcity, have invented an Improved Plate or Salver and we do hereby declarethe following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

Our invention consists of a chased or ornamented plate or salver, of sodmetal, produced by casting, and being harder, stifier, less expensive,and less liable to injury than the ordinary plates of stamped or spunmetal, ornamented by the addition of pieces soldered to the same.

In order to enable others to make our invention, we will now proceed todescribe the mode of manufacturing the same. I

A pattern" of metal, or. other suitable material, is first made, thesaid pattern being chased, to produce the desired ornamentation,polished, and otherwise prepared, so as to resemble in all respects thearticles which it is desired to produce.

A mould is then made from this pattern, in the following manner;

The pattern is placed upon a parting-board, within one portion of atwo-part moulding-flask, which is then packed with a composition of veryfine washed sand, and flour, or equivalent material, dampened withwater, but not sufliciently to prevent it from being sifted through afine sieve. v

The other portion of the flask is then applied to the first, and ispacked with a similar composition, after which the two parts of theflask are separated, and the pattern is reinoved.

On the face of the mould, which contains the impression of theornamented portion of the plate, is now sifted a layerof finecasting-material, the plate is replaced in its first position, andpressed downwards so as to sharpen the impression, and is then removed.

Four or more gates are now made in the upper portion of the mould,communicating with the edges of the pattern, opening at nearly theentire circumference, and a riseor opening is made in the centre;

The two parts of the mould are now adjusted, and, after being perfectlydried, molten soft metal is poured into the gates, until the latter, thepattern-opening, and the iiser are filled.

After the metal has cooled, the casting is removed, and the masses ofmetal which occupied the gates and rises are detached, the edges aretrimmed, the back of the casting, if necessary, is turned down or filed,the plain portions are polished. The plate is then plated and burnishedat the proper parts, and when thus finished, without the application ofa g raver or other tool, will be a fac-simile, both in its ornamentationand form, of the original pattern.

Frequent attempts have hitherto been made to duplicate chased orotherwise ornamented plates, or salvers, by taking moulds from sucharticles, and making castings of soft metal in the moulds; but suchattempts, from various causes, have never been successful, the castingsbeing almost invariably defective, so that, at the present time, all theplates, salvers,-&c., produced, are formed by stamping or spinning upsheet-metal to the proper shape, and then ornamenting it by stampingfigures thereon with dies, by chasing, or bysoldering or otherwiseseeming ornamental figures to the same. After this, the solder, where ithas flowed improperly, is filed or cut from the plate, and the latter,after; being polished, is plated and burnished.

Another objection to the plate thus made arises fi'om the difficulty ofproperly depositing the. coatingmetal 011' the portions of solderexposed at the joints, between the parts soldered together, so that theplating is thinnest at-the points where it should be thickest.

The article produced by our improved process is different fi-om anyplate hitherto manufactured, being stifi'er than those of. rolled metal,and therefore less liable to be bent or otherwise injured by blows;harder, and less liable to be indented; while the edge-border, whichformsa part of the body of the plate, greatly strengthens the latter,and cannot be separated from it by hard usage, as o curs with the plateshaving borders of ornamental metalsoldered to the body in the usualmanner.

The plate so formed is not liable to the objection of being thinnest atthe points where it is bent to form the ogee or other ornaments, as inthe case with plates formed by stamping or spinning. The plates are alsofree from the openings which exist in the ordinary plates, inconsequence of the imperfect running of the solder with which theornamental parts are secured,

which openings afford a lodgment for dirt,and for acids,

which attack the metal.

In addition to their superiority in quality, our improved plates may bemanufactured and sold at onehalf the price of the ordinary plates, whilethey may be ornamented, at but little if-anyextra cost, to a degreewhieh would be impossible in the plates produced in-the ordinary manner,except at anexpense that would render them unsalable.

We claim as our invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, as anew manufacture- The chased or ornamented plate or salver, hereindescribed.

In testimony whereof, wehave signed our names to this specification, inthe presence of two subscribingwitnesses. v

H. MCMANU S. 7 JOHN B. HAT'lING. Witneses:

Ormnnns E. Fosrnn, -EDM. F. Bnown.

